Section 67 of the CGST Act, 2017 — Search and Seizure ––- The petitioner prayed for quashing the impugned order dated 27/01/2022; to direct the respondent department to conduct stock verification as per law, without being influenced by stock verification report dated 25/01/2022. The premises of the petitioner was searched. The petitioner prayed that stock of coal lying in the premises be measured and checked again. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the search was not carried out in the presence of two witnesses but in the present case, no independent witnesses were present. The respondent counsel submitted that the search was carried out in the presence of independent witness. Even the nephew of petitioner was also available and signed the Panchnama. The court observed that there was discrepancies in the stock which attracted the levy of tax, hence, the petitioner out of his own free will deposited the amount of tax as well as penalty. Thus, on the date of search itself, the amount of tax and a penalty was deposited by the petitioner as discrepancies were found in the stock and thus there was no question of any kind of seizure. Moreover, there were independent witnesses as well as the petitioner own representatives who did not raise any objection, thus, filing of the application before respondent No.5 to remeasure the stock was an afterthought. Thus, there is no infirmity as far as the order/letter impugned are concerned.

Held that:-The Hon’ble High Court dismissed present petition, being devoid of merits.